Valentine Matchbox

Bigfoot needs to bring to school 22 Valentine cards during the week of February 8th. We decided instead of giving out cards you can buy, we would make them ourselves. The teacher sent home a note about a week ago to have the kids start signing their cards over a bunch of days so that it would not be such a big task for 4/5 year old. Here is a pile of the project we did.

Using the paper we had on hand I printed, cut out and glued 24 boxes [cannot forget the teachers]. I used bright pink for the bottom and then coordinated the outside box with decorative paper we had on hand. Since Bigfoot is still young and her attention span is not that long, I did the boxes on my own. I decided that as long as the paper coordinated we could dress it up with hearts.

I wanted to try out polymer clay as I have seen some cool looking buttons on blogs that I follow, so we rolled out the clay and used a heart shape cutter on both the red and blue clay. We mixed in a bit of white clay to give some of them a marble look. I used a glossy glaze on one side of the heart to see how it would change the look; I like it glossy. The kids can re-use the clay hearts and make a necklace for their mom or grandma if they want ~ recycle.

I printed out on pink paper hearts for her to sign her name so we could attach them to the box. I kept telling her over the last 4 days that she needed to sign the hearts. I am trying to get her to write smaller and keep her "long 8 letter name" all on one line. Yesterday she took the pages and I thought maybe she would only get about 5 of them signed, she wrote her name on all 30 hearts and then cut them out without me knowing. Truth be told, I was happy that she cut out all the hearts and even though they do not look perfect I still think they look fabulous. She saved me a ton of time. We used hemp and attached all the hearts together and then hemp again to wrap the hearts around the box.

As for the candy wrap, I used Hershey Nuggets and then printed out the sayings we wanted to use on to labels, and then used a background I designed in MS Word and ran the sheet back through the color printer. Bigfoot then put the labels around the candy for the inside of the box. After all her hard work, she was able to have a few Nuggets herself [I found out she had 4!].

Here she is wrapping the candy.

Here she is showing the 6 wrapped candy she has done. 18 more to go!

Not your usual Valentine Day card, but we do like to be different. We had fun doing this project and we are done, yeah! Now she needs to decide if she wants to make some Valentine Day cards for her gym friends and if so we will make it a much simpler project.

Have a great day and thank you for visiting my blog.

Matchbox Project #3

This week I have posted about making and decorating matchboxes and use them as treat holders for rewards or as a just thinking of you. They make great party favors and does not take a lot of candy to fill them, just the right amount for children or adults. Prepare in advance and make some of these with your child for Valentine's Day. I was told this morning by Bigfoot that she would like to share her "heart shape candies with sayings" on them with me because she did not like them; she is going to offer them to her family. You will be a winner with the treats you put in your matchbox, what kid or adult does not like chocolate! Making the matchbox does take time, but if you do all the cutting and gluing you can have your child work on the decorating. If your child is big enough, have them help you with the cutting and gluing.

This matchbox project I used the same matchbox bottom template that I used in the prior blog, click HERE to get the template. You will be able to fit 2 Hershey Nuggets in each bottom. I designed an outside case that looks like a box for playing cards that will fit the matchbox bottom. Remember to do a practice one before you do it on your good paper.

The outside wrapper dimensions are 4 1/2" x 4 3/4". Cut a piece of card stock at 4 1/2" x 4 3/4". Score on the 4 1/2" side at 1/2", 2", 2 1/2", and 4". On the 4 3/4" side score at 1", 1 1/2", 3 3/4" and 4 1/4". See diagram below as a guide. You can fold at your scores so that it is easier to cut. Cut out the squares as show below with the blue. You will need to cut at 2 spots shown in blue below [2 straight lines] to make some flap for folding into the box. Look on the next picture of one cut out. As always, if you have any questions feel free to email me directly. Once you do the first one the rest are real easy.

This photo shows the templates cut out and scored and then glued together. You will notice on the wrap that I glued the flap on the outside instead of on the inside of the box. If you glue it on the inside of the box, your matchbox bottom may have a hard time fitting into the box. Just cut a decorative piece of paper big enough to fit on the outside of the box and glue it on.

Once you are done gluing the boxes together then have fun decorating. The wrap around the Hershey Nuggets is a piece of paper 1" x 3 1/4". I used a hole punch and punched some holes to put onto the top of the Nuggets to decorate the paper a little bit. NOTE: You will need to make a tag to put into the matchbox bottom drawer so that it is easier to pull out of the box. I took a piece of ribbon and used double sided sticky tape to hold the ribbon into the box. I closed the box flap using a glue dot; you could always wrap a ribbon around it to keep it shut.

Have fun with this projects and include the children when doing kids crafts. I find that Bigfoot does much better at some artwork then I do and that she can think more freely. If you plan in advance, you can make a bunch of these for Valentines Day and the kids and adults will love you!
Include rubber stamps in your project and if using solid paper, stamp on the outside of the paper before gluing it together to give it a wonderful design. Visit Bigfoot & Pickle Face's store and see our fun rubber stamps, add some to your collection. Have a great weekend and since Bigfoot slept through the night without waking us, I will have to make her a matchbox treat for doing great. Happy stamping!

Matchbox Project #2

This project is wonderful for little rewards, as a party favor, or just because I Love You. Bigfoot has been getting up several times in the night to have us cover her, so we are trying to convince her to do it herself. You would think it would be the 2 year old waking us, but it is the 4 1/2 year old. She loves to find things under her pillow the next morning, so what a great way to reward her for not waking us in the night.

Teachers, use this idea for rewarding students for a great job done!

Parents, assist your child by cutting out the matchbox and putting it together. Have them decorate the outside wrap and assist in putting the wrap around the candy. I used Hershey Nuggets and the matchbox was designed to fit 2 of them, yummy yum yum. According to the Hershey's package there are about 36 nuggets per bag, you can do about 18 of these matchboxes per bag.

Let's get started. I used the same matchbox template from the prior blog so click here if you need it.

Print the template on card stock and cut on the solid lines, score on the dashes. Fold and glue accordingly to make the bottom of the matchbox. Cut another piece of card stock to wrap around the matchbox bottom at 2 1/4" x 4 1/2". Score on the long side at 1/2", 2", 2 1/2" and 4". Fold and glue the outside wrap. The paper for the wrap around the candy is 1" x 3 1/4"; wrap and glue at the bottom.

Have fun and decorate with your children. Here is the completed matchbox. I guess I could have used this as a great job in math, but at 4 1/2 years we don't have that subject yet.

I realize this project did not have any rubber stamping, but definitely incorporate it into your project along with sticker, yarn or confetti ~ whatever you have laying around the house. Have fun with your children, as they will keep you young. Thank you for visiting, Bigfoot & Pickle Face really appreciates any comments or suggestions you may have. Feel free to add your link of your matchbox project you have completed. Have a great week!

Matchbox Card Project #1

This week I am going to focus on use of homemade matchbox and show you what fun it can be when used as a party favor or as a card. An adult will need to do the printing and cutting out of the matchbox bottom, but do involve your child in the gluing and decorating of the matchbox card.

This is a great idea for Valentine's Day, and you will be giving away candy the kids will actually eat [or an adult will sneak].

I have modified the matchbox template to come up with one that will fit (2) Hershey Nuggets. I put 4 to a page so that you can mass produce and get the most use out of your paper. Keep the scraps as you may find a use for them like wrapping the outside of the nuggets. Cutting out the matchbox was the most lengthy part of this project, but if you print a bunch in advance and cut them out while you are watching TV it will go quicker.

Print out the template below on card stock [if you are having issues with the image, email me and I can send it to you as a pdf.].

Cut along the solid lines and score along the dotted lines. Fold and glue each box.

Cut a 3 1/2" x 5 5/8" in a coordinating piece of card stock. Score along the long side [5 5/8" side] at 2 1/2" and 3 1/8".

Place the 2 matchbox bottoms inside the card and mark a spot for a hole punch, do the same to the top of the card.

Use a hole punch and punch a hole where you marked. Glue the 2 matchbox bottoms together and then glue them to the inside of the card, align it to your scored area.

Cut out [4] 1" x 3 1/4" strips to use for the wrapper around the Hershey Nuggets. Wrap the paper around the candy and glue together on the bottom.

Put a blank piece of paper on the inside of your card for your notes and decorate the outside of your card depending on the event. I used a piece of ribbon to close the card. The ribbon was from an old helium balloon and when I get rid of the balloon I keep the ribbon ~ recycle.

This project is both yummy and fun. According to the Hershey Nuggets bags that I purchased, a serving is 4 candies for 200 calories, and there are about 9 servings per bag. This treat card will be the hit of any party and the receiver will love it. Have fun and spend time with your children making kids crafts, it will bring out the kid in you!

I used the Bigfoot & Pickle Face image from our Farm Set, click here to view all of our clear stamps. Go out and make your own creation and provide your link in your comments so we can all enjoy what you have done. Happy crafting and have fun stamping!

How to make a Matchbox

So I decided to make a matchbox in order to put the playing cards in that I made for Cards for Kate Card Drive on Jennifer McGuire's ink blog. I had seen some cute decorated matchboxes on some blogs and thought if I increased the size to accommodate the playing cards that it would be cute. I found a great blog that has a template, unfortunately my playing cards are much bigger so I had to design my own template, but visit The Swap-bot Weblog for a great tutorial by Rachel.

If you would like a larger template~send me an email and I can forward the document to you. NOTE: before you start, practice, practice, practice...do not use your good paper until you feel confident about what you are doing. The inside drawer needs to be a bit smaller then the outside wrapper, so make sure you cut and score accordingly as it is very tricky to fit the drawer box inside the outside wrapper. Don't get frustrated, keep trying. This project will be good for older kids, as younger ones will not have the patience to wait. Parents should assist with this project.

Print onto heavy card stock your templates. Cut along solid lines, score [fold] along dotted lines. On the inside drawer, score slightly smaller then the dotted lines so that the box will fit inside the outside wrap. I did the envelope style matchbox shown on Swap-bot Weblog, so it is very important that the inside drawer is smaller otherwise you will have to struggle to slide it in. As you can see that I keep stressing the size of the inside drawer~I had 3 attempts until I got it right!

If you want to put a handle on the inside drawer, do it before you glue everything together. You will want to do it on the shorter end of the drawer and attach it on the bottom flap. Glue down the long sides first. See photo above and then below to see the example. You can use glue or double sided sticky tape~I used a combination of both.

Glue down the tabs to the short side on the inside of the drawer, see below photo. Glue and fold the flap down in to hide the tabs. Do this on both sides. You should have a drawer when you are done.

On the outside wrap, glue the tab down on the inside and then fold and wrap around gluing as you go. The last flap will go inside the box, so do this last. You will end up with something that looks like a crayon box.

Here are the boxes completed. Let the glue dry completely.

Now decorate your box. I put a card on the top of my box, with a personal note inside. On the opposite side, I stamped some images on to another piece of card stock and used double sided sticky tape to adhere it to the outside wrap. I wrapped ribbon with double sided sticky tape around the box to give the 3 sides some color. I did use Mod Podge on the inside of the outside wrap to allow for the drawer to move smoothly. [Visit Amy~Mod Podge Rocks blog for other Mod Podge ideas].

Matchboxes make wonderful boxes to store small thing in and is a great idea for a birthday party craft idea. Make up the boxes in advance and then have the kids decorate. Be creative.

In this example I used from our Bigfoot & Pickle Face Creations Collection the "lion" from our Circus Act Set, to keep with the theme of the playing cards. I stamped with our child safe/washable ink stamp pad in black.

Stamping is so much fun and there are many projects to use clear rubber stamps with, the best is when you work with your children. Since this set was homemade and one of a kind, my daughter would like her own cards now! Sometimes the best projects take the most time, but the results are rewarding. Thanks for visiting and "Come play and join the Fun!".